Description

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Paving Our Ways covers the international history of road paving in an interesting, readable and technically accurate way. It provides an overview of the associated technologies in a historical context.

It examines the earliest pavements in Egypt and Mesopotamia and then moves to North Africa, Crete, Greece and Italy, before a review of pavements used by the Romans in their magnificent road system. After its empire collapsed, Roman pavements fell into ruin. The slow recovery of pavements in Europe began in France and then in England.

The work of Tr saguet, Telford and McAdam is examined. Asphalt and concrete slowly improved as paving materials in the second part of the 19th century.　Major advances occurred in the 20th century with the availability of powerful machinery, pneumatic tyres and bitumen. The advances needed to bring pavements to their current development are explored, as are the tools for financing, constructing, managing and maintaining pavements.

The book should appeal to those interested in road paving, and in the history of engineering and transport. It can also serve as a text for courses in engineering history.

About the Author

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Dr Maxwell Lay is an engineering consultant known for his internationalcontributions to road engineering and his acclaimed international roadhistories. He is a member of the Order of Australia, former ExecutiveDirector of the Australian Road Research Board, and past President ofthe Royal Automobile Club of Victoria and the Australian AutomobileAssociation. He has been awarded the Moisseif Medal of the AmericanSociety of Civil Engineers, the Peter Nicol Russell, Warren and TransportMedals of the Institution of Engineers Australia, and the Gold Medalof Roads Australia. He is the author of Handbook of Road Technology(CRC Press, 2019).Dr John Metcalf has worked in pavement materials and engineering atthe British Road Research Laboratory, Queen's University in Canada, and the Queensland Main Roads Department. He was Deputy Directorof the Australian Road Research Board and later was appointed ChairedProfessor of Civil Engineering at Louisiana State University. He was aFellow of the (UK) Institution of Civil Engineers and the Geological Societyof London and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He isan Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia.Kieran Sharp worked for the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) as aresearcher in the fields of pavements, roads, and transport, and as technicaleditor, for over 40 years. He was the first member of ARRB to receive anAustroads Achievement Award. He is the Chair of the Technical Committeeof the Road Engineering Association of Asia and Australia, a member of theGoverning Council, and an Honorary Member. He was awarded the RoadsAustralia Award for Technical Excellence in 2013.